Three NFL celebs got in hot water last week because all made the same shocking mistake. They said how they really feel — in public.

Mark Patinkin Journal Columnist markpatinkin

Three NFL celebs got in hot water last week because all made the same shocking mistake.

They said how they really feel — in public.

I’m sure you’ve read about at least one of them — Richard Sherman. His job is to knock down football passes for the Seattle Seahawks. He did exactly that during the final seconds of the playoffs and got his team into the Super Bowl. Moments later, as everyone celebrated, a reporter asked him to recount the play. This is where he was supposed to say, “I’m just a small part of a team and we played a great opponent.” Instead, he let loose a hyper-adrenaline screed.

“I’m the best corner in the game!” Sherman shouted, then trash-talked a rival: “Crabtree! Don’t you open your mouth about the best! Or I’m gonna shut it for you real quick!”

That rant pretty much pushed Iran, Syria and global warming off news roundtables. For days, it was all about Richard Sherman. He was called rude and disrespectful. Folks on comment boards used phrases like “thug.”

My goodness.

The second football star to get in trouble was Patriots coach Bill Belichick. He’s known for having the best poker face in sports. If you showed most people a Belichick post-game press conference without sound and asked them to guess whether he’d won or lost, they’d have no idea.

But last week was different. The day a playoff loss ended his season, Belichick went off on Wes Welker for injuring one of his key guys.

He called it deliberate. And then: “It’s one of the worst plays I’ve ever seen.”

That got people piling on

Belichick for sour grapes. Most said it wasn’t a dirty play at all and he should have kept his thoughts to himself.

Finally, there was Patriots QB Tom Brady. A radio station asked his Super Bowl plans.

“Truthfully,” he said, “I could care less about watching the game. That’s pretty much how I feel.”

He got hit pretty hard for that. Who does Brady think he is?

Finally, after a few days of all three getting beat up, I saw a few commentators take the opposite side, mostly on Richard Sherman. They said that in a scripted age, it’s refreshing to finally hear a player say how he really feels.

Amen.

I mean, aren’t you tired of every athlete summing up the game by saying: “It was just all of us working hard together.”

Or: “I want to thank the Lord.” Well, no actually — God didn’t block that pass. Richard Sherman did. Is it so bad for Sherman to take credit?

Belichick is the ultimate example of someone practiced at never saying anything. But finally, last week, he did. He showed he’s human by accusing Wes Welker of a dirty hit. And yes, people called him a sore loser, but it was interesting to finally see Belichick show human emotion. Not to mention that his words added to an important debate about proper hitting rules in a time of concussions and torn ACL’s.

As for Tom Brady, even I at first felt it was a sour thing to say. What do you mean you’re not watching the Super Bowl? But it makes sense if you think about it. His job is football and his season is over. Do plumbers start their vacation fixing pipes for fun? Or watch better plumbers do a prestigious job you wish you had but didn’t get?

That’s just plain rare among all public figures. God help you if you show too much honesty in politics — you’d get the Richard Sherman treatment. Commentators would pile on you for being undisciplined. Your handlers would remind you politics is about being scripted more than being honest.

Sports is now the same. But last week, three big names showed us what they really think … and also showed us they were fallible.